You've Got Mail
by chizry
Summary: In response to a challenge inspired by Tom Hank's You've Got Mail. The wonderful world wide web brings a whole new meaning to the word 'dating'.


**Title: **You've Got Mail

**Disclaimer: **CBS will have their characters in one piece, I promise.

**Rating:** PG-13

**A/N:** Inspired by the challenge (which was inspired by Tom Hank's "You've Got Mail").

1. Sara has been talking to a off a chat site for months, and cannot  
stop talking about him.  
2. Greg met this girl through a chat room, he cant stop talking about  
her either (what they talk about up to you)  
3. The thing Greg and Sara don't realize is that there talking to each  
other, both Greg and Sara can't stop talking about 'each other' to the  
team. And happily annoying Hodges.  
4. The team notices similarities in the stories and decides to talk  
them into meeting there 'unknown' from the chatroom. And talk them  
into meeting at a place where they all can see who they are.  
5. What happens when Greg finds out its Sara? What happens when Sara  
finds out its Greg? What will the team do when they find out that they  
were right? How will it end?  
6. MUST USE characters; Greg, Sara, Warrick, Cath, Hodges, Nick,  
Grissom, and Mia  
7. Greg/Sara friendship ends Greg/Sara  
8. any rating

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Moving the mouse on the screen, she clicked a link that said "Vegas Dating Room". A window popped up, with a list of thirty-some screennames on the right and an ongoing stream of words on the left. Scrolling the list, she highlighted a familiar name and a smaller window popped up.

Before she could type anything, a greeting appeared. "Hello," it said. "A little late tonight."

Smiling happily even though she knew the person on the other side, couldn't see, "Had to go in overtime for work."

"That's okay, I don't mind. The good thing is that you're here."

Sara felt the stress of her day melt away as she lapsed into a comfortable conversation.

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Scouring the instant messaging window, he skillfully ignored the multitude of multi-colored text and instead zoned in on the newcomer on the screen. Recognizing the screenname, he quickly pulled up the private window.

Typing quite fast, he wondered where she had been. "Hello," he wrote. "A little late tonight."

It replied after a few seconds. "Had to go in overtime for work."

He grinned happily, even though there was no way that the person on the other side could see. "That's okay, I don't mind. The good thing is that you're here."

Greg leaned back comfortably in his chair as he lapsed into a comfortable conversation.

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"So, then, we realize we both adore science, and he listens to NOFX which-"

David Hodges huffed, annoyed, as Sara Sidle recounted a conversation she had had the night before. "Must you do your story-telling every time you visit me? You've told me this twice already today," he complained. "In an hour."

"I did? Sorry, Hodges, I forgot." Her eyes took on a glazed look as she went back into her own little world.

With a very characteristic Hodge glare, Hodges snatched the sample analysis results from the printer and studied it.

"What, does it hold the meaning of life? Because according to him and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it's 42."

"Very funny." He shot her a withering look. "It seems that the red stain on your vic's shirt was juice of a _fragaria ananassa_."

"You're telling me that she was eating strawberries?"

Hodges smirked. "And the white crystals you found on her fingers and clothes? Sodium chloride."

"Salt." Sara frowned as a red-head entered the Las Vegas lab. "What was she doing with salt on her clothes?"

"What's with salt?" Catherine Willows asked as she peered over the brunette's shoulder.

"According to this, our vic was eating strawberries but had salt all over her clothes."

Catherine laughed. "Haven't you ever eaten strawberries with sugar? The two substances look the same at first glance."

Sara looked at her in disbelief. "So you're saying that she did this to herself?"

"Seems like it. The tox report came back, she was twice over the legal alcohol limit. Wouldn't even know the difference."

"So much for the case." The two girls walked out to write out their report.

----------------------

"It's cool, knowing a science geek girl of all things actually collects ALL the NOFX CDs, and you guys know I absolutely-"

Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown glanced at each other warily as their quirky friend prattled endlessly about his new girl…..friend.

"You told us all this earlier, man. In fact, you've been going a mile a minute for the past three months." Warrick leaned back in his chair. "What gives?"

Greg looked at him as if he had said instead that the earth was as flat as a pancake. "This girl's the best person in the whole world!"

"What, like your soulmate or something?" Nick joked, sipping on his Coke. He raised an eyebrow when the younger CSI nodded eagerly. "Oh man, you've got it bad."

"Got what bad?" Warrick's puzzling look matched Greg's as they looked at the cowboy CSI.

"He's in love with a girl he doesn't even know!" Nick began to snicker at the thought of it.

"I do too know her! Just not….in real life, that's all."

"For all you know, it could be some 60-year-old pervert grandpa who likes having it with young guys," Nick suggested.

Greg instantly paled and set down his mug in disgust, as Warrick grimaced. "That's just downright nasty, man."

"Think about it. It's completely possible. The only regret that the old man probably has is not having a web-cam to see you with."

Walking over to the breakroom sink, Greg poured the rest of his coffee down the drain. "I think I'm gonna be sick." The other CSI gave Nick a shove as unlawful mental images crossed his mind.

"Hey, you never know!"

----------------------

Gil Grissom poked his head through the lab door as Mia and Sara were talking about grapes and hair. Rapping his knuckles on the door to catch the girls' attention, he inquired, "I didn't think grape stains were red, Sara."

"They aren't. Those stains were strawberries. I finished my case; the report's on the desk."

"So why are you two talking about purple and green fruit?"

Mia grinned sheepishly. "She was just telling me about this guy she's been seeing for a few months now."

Imperceptibly, Grissom frowned. Since when did Sara go out with anyone, let alone have a boyfriend? "I didn't know you found somebody," he commented cautiously.

He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach when the CSI in question blushed a light pink. "I haven't. It was somebody I met online. See, a couple of days ago I found out that both he and I hate artificial grape flavoring and hardly ever wear our hair au-natural."

The head CSI frowned. It seemed as though this 'online-buddy' knew Sara better than he did, and he didn't like it. "Ok. Well, keep your mind on your work. Talk AFTER you finish." He turned around stiffly and headed back toward his office.

Sara and Mia exchanged confused looks. "But I told you I already finished," Sara called out as Grissom forcibly closed the glass door to his office.

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"Yuck."

"What?"

"Grape-flavored cough medicine."

"What's wrong with it?" Catherine stood with her hands on her hips and Mia frowned thoughtfully.

"I hate artificial grape flavoring. Doesn't taste like grape at all."

The red-head resisted rolling her eyes at his childishness. "Well, it's not for you, it's for Lindsey. You can stick to your imported-from-England honey cough drops."

"Guaranteed to work, I add." Greg threw an impish grin. He ran a hand through his hair, which the lab tech noticed had intense orange streaks in it.

"Do you ever wear your hair naturally?" Mia asked thoughtfully.

"No…I think I did only once or twice. Why?"

The dark-skinned CSI smiled slyly. "Just wondering."

At that moment Grissom poked his head into the break-room. "Greg. DB over at the Tangiers. You're working it with Sara. She's already got the keys to the Hummer."

As soon as Greg left the room to pick up his processing kit, Mia turned mischievous eyes to Catherine and Grissom. "Get everyone in here, I've got some important findings."

With a perplexed look at the triumphant girl, Catherine went to go find everyone else.

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As Nick, Warrick, Hodges, and Catherine returned, the six members of the team gathered around the break table. Observing everyone's faces, Mia saw surprise, confusion, and….was that a knowing look on Grissom's face?

"I believe that we have just solved the case on who the mysterious online friends of Greg and Sara are." Grissom stated calmly. Mia looked at him in shock.

"You figured it out too?"

"Figured what?" Nick asked, looking between the somewhat smug face of his boss and the put-out one of the lab tech.

"Greg and Sara met online and have no idea that they did," Mia explained excitedly.

Catherine's face took on a look of understanding. "Their stories match up perfectly. How come they've never seen it before?"

Grissom tilted his head in the usual Grissom fashion. "Emotion isn't always logical."

"They've never talked about it to each other, either. How come?" questioned Mia.

The rest of the group looked at each other knowingly. "Yeah. I can imagine that conversation. Would work real nice for a date," Hodges said sarcastically.

"So what do we do now?" Warrick asked. "We can't force them to 'meet' in reality, seeing as they already know each other."

With a small smirk, Nick motioned everyone to lean forward. Everyone listened intently to Nick's plan as he outlined what they could do.

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"Grissom has a new experiment for us," Nick announced at the end of the team's shift.

Sara shot him a quizzical glance. "Does this involve cockroaches? I'm not keen on being an obstacle for one of his races," she said warily.

He bit back a grin. Truth be told, those races won him quite a bit of money from Warrick. "No, nothing with the bugs. It's with the whole instant messenging thing." Taking Sara's silence as a gesture to move on, he continued. "He wants to see if it'll be good in the lab. You know, instead of walking in between all the rooms to talk to someone or give results."

She cocked an eyebrow. "That's new."

Nick shrugged. "We made our screennames during break." He handed her a list of everyone's but Greg's. "We're trying it out tonight after shift, so Mia is going to have a chat room with all of us in it. You can get Greg's then."

On the other side of the lab, Catherine gave Greg a copy of the same list. "So, it'll be about 2:00."

"Can I have coffee with that list then?" He kidded as the red-head smiled at his joke. "This is gonna ruin my beauty sleep."

"Sure. You're going to need it," She smirked as Greg stuck out his tongue playfully at her.

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"So where's Greg?" Sara typed as she and the rest of the CSI team waited for the labrat.

"Here," Greg announced, entering the chat room at that moment.

Even though they couldn't look through their computer screens, everyone grinned at the two's expected reactions.

"It was you!" The two messaged instantaneously.

"It's like a masquerade ball without the fancy dresses and cocktails," Nick joked.

"And here you guys were annoying the crap out of us and didn't know that you were in love after all." Hodges said matter-of-factly.

"It's a small, small, world in online dating." Grissom added.

There was no response from the two in question for several minutes.

"Uh…where'd they go?" Warrick asked.

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RatsLuvCoffee: So, want to meet me at the coffee shop tomorrow after shift? Just so we know each other in real life.

VeggieGeek: It's a date.


End file.
